Bill wants online gambling firms to pay Sh200m licence fee
Online gambling firms and the national lottery will be required to deposit Sh200 million to be licensed to operate if President William Ruto signs a new Bill into law.
What you need to know:
- The MPs also deleted an amendment that required a licensed betting, gambling, lottery, or gaming premise to operate between ten O’clock in the evening and five O’clock in the morning.
- The Senate proposed changes to clause five of the Bill to hand counties the power to develop and implement county legislation on betting and other forms of gambling, licence prize competition within a county, issue trade permits for betting premises, license amusement machines, license, and issue pool table permits within a county, licence and supervise county lotteries and issue trade permits for premises for totalisators.
Online gambling firms and the national lottery will be required to deposit Sh200 million to be licenced to operate if President William Ruto signs a new Bill into law.
The National Assembly approved the Gambling Control Bill, 2023 after rejecting Senate amendments that included reducing betting stake from the current minimum of Sh20 placement to one shilling to protect school-going children who can get one shilling easily.
The Bill seeks to regulate Kenya’s betting and gambling industry while ensuring tax compliance and protecting citizens from exploitative practices.
The Bill provides for security for a gambling activity to be deposited by all licenced gambling operators to the proposed Gaming Authority.
The third schedule to the Bill provides that Sh200 million will be deposited in respect of an online gambling licence and a similar amount for a national lottery licence.
The Senate amendment sought to reduce the security required concerning online gambling and the national lottery from Sh200 million to Sh20 million.
According to the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BLCB), foreign companies pay Sh5.5 million for public gaming and Sh6.5 million for public lottery licences annually.
The committee said both online gambling and national lottery would cover a wide scope of players as compared to physical gambling premises, therefore there is a need to ensure that the security for online gambling and national lottery is higher than that required for other forms of gambling.
“Having considered the Senate amendments to the Gambling Control Bill, 2023, the committee recommends that the House reject the Senate amendments,” the committee said in its report.
The Bill sailed through Third Reading on Thursday, January 16, 2025, and now awaits President Ruto’s signature to become law.
The National Assembly, which approved and referred the Bill to the Senate for concurrence on December 6, 2023, voted to reject all the 20 amendments proposed by Senators.
“In considering the Senate amendments to the Bill, the committee noted that some of the amendments were in contravention of Article 109 of the Constitution that provides for the origination of Bill,” the committee chaired by Dan Wanyama said in its report.
“Article 109(5) of the Constitution provides that a money Bill may be introduced only in the National Assembly in accordance with Article 114 of the Constitution.”
The committee said the Senate amendments introduce a 15 per cent tax on betting, gaming, lottery, and prize competition taxes on the turnovers respectively.
The committee said the introduction of taxes such as a 15 per cent lottery tax and a 15 percent gaming tax is unnecessary since similar provisions are already covered under the Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, 2024.
The Senate amendments to the Bill sought to empower counties to license and regulate various gambling activities, including betting, lotteries, and amusement machines.
Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah said some of the amendments by the Senate were already considered under the Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, 2024.
"The amendments seek to legislate on matters already addressed by the Tax (Laws) Amendment Act, 2024," he said during a Special Session of the House on Thursday.
Suba South MP Caroli Omondi cited several inconsistencies in the Senate amendments, arguing that certain proposals conflicted with the Constitution and existing statutes.
“There shall be a tax to be known as gaming tax chargeable at the rate of fifteen per cent of the gaming revenue,” the Senate amendment, which MPs rejected, reads.
“The tax shall be paid to the collector (Kenya Revenue Authority) by a person carrying on a gaming business on the 20th day of the month following the month of collection.”
The MPs also deleted an amendment that required a licensed betting, gambling, lottery, or gaming premise to operate between ten O’clock in the evening and five O’clock in the morning.
The Senate proposed changes to clause five of the Bill to hand counties the power to develop and implement county legislation on betting and other forms of gambling, license prize competition within a county, issue trade permits for betting premises, license amusement machines, license, and issue pool table permits within a county, license and supervise county lotteries and issue trade permits for premises for totalisators.
